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All It Took, a Wreck-It Ralph Oneshot by TheMysteriouswatcher
A fanfiction I wrote some time back. Summary is as follows: All it took for Ralph to finally snap was one final insult from Gene. Then again, who said that Ralph snapping was always a bad thing? -''Wow…'' Fix-It Felix said in awe as another day of Fix-It Felix Jr. being played. Days like this went in and out all day, with many different children stopping by said game. However, all because of one thing that happened a day or so before, Ralph being heavily involved, this day, the game was much more played than usual.-''I don't think our game has ever been this popular…'' Mary exclaimed sort of quietly, almost as if in a state of euphoria as Felix and all the Nicelanders were situated on top of the penthouse rooftop, gazing up at the stars, glowing in the sky like numerous small lamps, together forming beautiful constellations. Gene and Mary were sitting next to each other along with Felix on the rooftop railing, with Lucy and the others occupying a group of chairs a bit in to the middle of the roof. Every single game inhabitant was there. Almost everyone, that is… ''-Felix?'' Mary then said the handyman's name for what had to be at least the tenth time that evening. Why didn't Ralph want to join us? Her voice was actually showing concern, because ever since Ralph practically saved the entire game from a very gruesome fate (even if he WAS the cause of it in the very beginning), they had learned to show much more respect toward the ham-handed giant of a man, treating him better every day that passed, making sure that he felt that he was important to them. Even though Gene was still on a little rough edge with the big guy, they were getting along well enough. Sure, they were programmed to feel only negative feelings for Ralph, but one of the most important parts in a video game character's life is to defy their code in one way or the other. In most games, everyone had done it, at least to some degree, even if it had taken a while. Needless to say, the Nicelanders' eyes were opened, finally, to the fact that Ralph was an extremely vital part of the game, and they should have made him feel like so as well. And also, not to sell anyone of that short, they did also like him a lot more because of getting to know him more, of course. -''Well…'' Felix started, absentmindedly reaching up to rub his neck. He told me he wanted to spend some time with Vanellope. Ever since the gamers started playing our game a lot more than usual, he's been positively exhausted from all his hard work. Felix finished his explanation of how he presumed the situation to be, and the others simply shrugged and shared a few positive, confirmative murmurs between one another. -''After all…'' Felix began, but only loud enough for Mary to hear. I guess having a bad temper isn't all that bad in some cases. -''Wow!'' Vanellope's squeaky voice exclaimed in awe as she witnessed Ralph cracking yet another Jawbreaker. Ever since she saw him do it the very first day they met, she had always wanted to see him do it again, but had actually never come around to ask him to do it again, especially not since the Turbo crisis began, but now that everything was out of the way, she had remembered it. Vanellope ran up to the cracked Jawbreaker with a squeal of delight as she ran her hands along its hard exterior. It was evenly split down the middle, and several rings, each one smaller than the previous and with different colours that represented different tastes, ran along its walls until they reached the very middle, where a colourful orb of various tastes was forming. Vanellope eyes were wide as she scaled the Jawbreaker, eventually standing on top of it with one foot on each side of the even crack. At this stage, she actually reached up to Ralph's lower midsection, said wrecker standing aside, with his huge hands humbly folded behind his back. -''How do you do it?'' Vanellope said in awe as she did her best to balance on the two halves of the Jawbreaker. She found it to be increasingly difficult by every second, because the halves were starting to separate from each other. With a yelp of surprise and an uncontrolled swing of her tiny arms, Vanellope started falling backwards, but before she hit the hard ground, she felt herself land on something moderately softer. Ralph smiled at her before tilting his own hand slightly, so as to let Vanellope jump down. She sheepishly looked down at her feet, and awkwardly folded her fingers together, one of her feet ashamedly shifting on the spot she was standing. -''Hey, thanks, Stinkbrain…'' She said as she looked up at him again. He didn't say anything, but he instead chuckled lightly as he used the tip of his finger to nudge her arm. Of course, he knew his own strength, so he really made sure to be gentle so that he wouldn't hurt her. -''Heh… Don't worry about it.'' He said light-heartedly, and Vanellope once again approached the cracked piece of candy, her hands covering her wide open mouth as she stared at in it awe. With a more high-pitched voice than what was even more, she looked back at him and repeated the question she asked before almost falling off the Jawbreaker. Ralph looked like he wasn't completely sure on how to answer the question; after all, he simply did what he was created to do, and that was pretty much it. There wasn't a really big possibility to explain it, but Ralph decided to give it a shot anyway. -''Well… I guess I just, I don't know really, I just concentrate on what I want to wreck and then just… Wreck it.'' Ralph said to the little girl, almost in a way that said that he didn't really think of it as much. It isn't really much. He then said, confirming what his tone and words had inquired without really thinking about it. -''Not really much? Are you kidding?'' Vanellope squealed again, using all the strength she could muster to try and flip one of the halves over to its flat side. It's awesome! Ralph couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm, said wrecker experiencing a warm, sort of fuzzy feeling as Vanellope continued adorning and playing with the halves of the candy. He felt accepted, he felt liked, and, albeit it wasn't for the first time, he felt appreciated for his very special "talent". He sighed happily, shook his head and then sat himself down on another Jawbreaker nearby. -''I can't believe I just laughed at you the first time I saw you do that!'' The little candy-haired girl exclaimed as she once again did her best to get up on the candy, trying hard to actually stay on it this time. I mean, no one else has ever managed to do that before! Vanellope's voice just wouldn't ever drop its excited demeanour, and her eyes gleamed in awe as she just looked at her huge friend. -''Well, there's a first time for everything, I suppose…'' Ralph said with a soft chuckle, but still couldn't help smiling as he looked back into the girl's eyes, said girl currently trying hard once more to keep her balance on the rounded surface of the Jawbreaker. Vanellope remained silent this time, at least for a short while, before jumping off the half of the candy and walking up to Ralph. -''Hey, can I ask something I've wondered about for a few days now?'' Vanellope said, and then sort of mentally scolded herself for formulating the question in such a stupid way. Ralph, however, didn't seem to mind or notice, because he just raised an eyebrow, smiling lightly. -''Sure thing, kid. Ask away.'' He said, and it was then when she started looking like she didn't know how to ask her question. Eventually, however, she came up with what she thought was an appropriate way of formulating. -''Ralph, how come your game is so… Popular all of a sudden? Yesterday, and the day before, there were, like… Three times as many kids waiting to play your game compared to normal!'' Ralph's face adopted a confused expression from somewhere as he was slightly confused by her question, albeit sub-consciously knowing what she meant. He made a sort of doubting noise, as if not completely sure of what to say at all, and then shifted his weight a bit in his candied seat. -''Uh… How can I explain this…?'' Ralph said sheepishly as he shuffled his large hands in the palms of each other, Vanellope seizing the tiny opportunity to climb his arms and set herself down on her usual spot on his shoulder. She affectionately nudged the side of his forehead, gaining his attention. They had been out here in the candy forest for a few hours now, and the arcade would open in a few more, setting about another group of game-itchy children and adolescents alike would swarm into the hall, most of them ready to play Ralph's game, mostly because of the extra feature rather… Unexpectedly added into the game on Ralph's own initiative. -''Just start at the beginning, silly!'' Vanellope said with a well-meaning yet teasing tone as she patted his head. Like she expected, he didn't flinch away from her touch, even though Ralph had always been sensitive about the areas around his head. He scoffed lightly at her remark but then simply sighed, shaking his head slightly as he began thinking on how he best could tell this tale… -''Well, the whole thing started a few days ago, only…'' He started, and Vanellope actually was listening interestingly as he spoke. And it taught me that having a bad temper might not always be a bad thing. Ralph wasn't sure he had ever seen Gene this pissed off. He looked like he was about to explode any second, as if hundreds of volcanoes were inside him, about to blow all at the same time. Ralph knew that whatever he broke, Felix could fix, but it wasn't about that. It was about that he had broken it in the first place. On top of that, the prize of Best Dedication Creation to Good or Bad Guy was most likely going to be awarded to Fix-It Felix Jr. It was a sculpture, and Ralph and Felix were both equally shocked to see it. It brandished several different good-looking metals, but the motif of the sculpture was the best of it all. It depicted the two game characters, standing side-by-side on a large, square-shaped plate, both having triumphant, almost defiant expressions on their faces. Felix was raising his hammer into the air and Ralph was crossing his huge hands across his chest. Furthermore, scripted into the base of the statue, was the motto: Good, Bad, we love our two "heroes". The scripture was actually Lucy's idea, because she was the one of the Nicelanders who "liked" Ralph the most. Passing the idea on to the others, no one had complained, and Felix had actually congratulated her on her splendid idea, and Ralph himself could positively say that he was touched. Then, a couple hours later, the last few minutes before the exhibition was about to start, Ralph had accidentally lost his balance due to a bunch of passers-by in a hurry, and he had fell right into the sculpture. Normally, it wouldn't have suffered any damage at all, but seeing as it was Ralph, it became bent, buckled, and overall vilified, in its appearance. The judges for the expedition were just about to go to their sculpture, just when Ralph fell on it. Of course, Felix could have fixed it, but he was currently busy in picking up Sergeant Calhoun from Hero's Duty, so he wasn't there at the moment. The judges were waiting patiently, but eventually, when Felix didn't show up, they were forced to call it a walkover, and since the Nicelanders really didn't want to present their smashed up sculpture, the dedication from Tapper's won it, said sculpture brandishing a depicturing Tapper, standing on a table, holding two kegs of root beer. The judges had gave that the win, in a close call with Hero's Duty's and Sugar Rush's dedication, brandishing Sergeant Calhoun standing with her rifle ready and a cy-bug's head beneath one of her armoured feet, and Vanellope von Schweetz and her kart on top of a throne, respectively. And even though the Nicelanders forgave him fairly quickly for it, Gene had always been a guy with problems of holding grudges. He had desperately wanted this award, seeing as their game had never won it the many years they had had it going, but now that Ralph had made both them and himself realize what a good guy he could be, they were finally able to actually make some good competition for the award. Now, with said sculpture having been smashed, quite ironically, by one of its models, so to speak, that dream was rapidly slipping away from the irritable major of Niceland. -''Ralph, you lack-witted beetlehead!'' He had exclaimed in anger, jabbing one accusing finger in Ralph's direction. Do you realize what you've done? Do you even understand how difficult it was to build that statue! We did it to honour you and Felix both and you just go and dump it all in the drain! Ralph had tried to say that he was sorry, extending an arm in apology, but it was apparent that Gene wasn't having any of it. Before he stormed off into his own game, and just as Felix arrived with his wife, he shouted an extremely shocking I hope you are happy, you thick-headed IDIOT! Leaving even Calhoun standing there, flabbergasted. Ralph tried to shout something back, only to find that he couldn't even get his mouth open, and he just stared ashamedly into the floor of Game Central Station. Felix walked up to his larger counterpart, patting his arm, saying "Don't worry, Ralph. It wasn't your fault." Even Calhoun gave her regards in apology of Gene's unexpected scolding, but the damage had already been done. Ralph, quite known for his reputation to be sensitive to harsh words, simply stared into the floor, stiff and not lifting his gaze at all. Only when the Nicelanders and the couple retreated to Fix-It Felix-Jr. did he move, and he spent the rest of his night, alone, in his shack. The next day, Gene's words were ringing in his head still, and he seemed to be completely unable to force them out. That one simple word that he hated to hear, and even more so to be called, refused to stop whirling around in the cave that was his mental being. Every few seconds, his mind took him back to yesterday, when Gene had called him that dreadful word. Frankly, everyone else, including Felix, had avoided him as much as they could, in order to give him some time to cool off, up until the point where the arcade opened again, but instead of feeling resented or sad, Ralph actually felt anger. He felt like Gene had gone way out of his way to give Ralph a verbal beating, and the fact that Gene hadn't apologized to him made him all the more mad. After all, it wasn't really his fault that the sculpture was broken, seeing as someone had actually pushed him. Granted, Ralph could maybe have been expected to still keep his balance, but seeing as the blow came from the back, he hadn't time to brace himself, and he just fell down. Then, when the gaming started, it took only one more insult from Gene to make him snap. It was the third gamer of the day, and Ralph grew all the more angry as time passed. He had learnt himself that he couldn't under any circumstance become too angry during a game. Of course, he was supposed to act all angry and mad and stuff, but he couldn't stray from his programming too much, after all. Gene, during one of the intermissions, still standing in his window, shouted down at the downed wrecker: "Hey, you gotta speed up the wrecking, you know! You're straying from the program!'' Ralph had simply lifted an eyebrow in confusion, and shouted back up: "What do you mean? I go as fast as I need to!" Apparently, Gene wasn't going to take this for an answer, and he yelled right back down: "What, are you thick or something? You're going too slow!'' This had finally made a small flame inside Ralph lit, and all the time until the next player arrived, it grew in size and power only, and when the next player finally initiated the quarter alert sequence, Ralph was downright furious. What right did Gene have to criticize him for his work when he was doing it all right? Thinking about it, Ralph played his part in the opening sequence like he was supposed to. After that, it all went in another direction. The player was very experienced in this game it was apparent, because she had reached level five without taking a single hit. All this time, Ralph's anger grew only stronger and stronger, and eventually, he snapped. With an indignant roar of flaring anger, Ralph slammed both of his hands down into the part of the construction board together, as opposed to one at a time, sending a huge barrage of bricks with only one space of safety barrelling down at Felix. The player, the Nicelanders and even Felix himself all made a noise of surprise, although the latter two's were concealed by the game's in-game music. The player was not at all used to this type of game-play, and Felix inevitably was hit by one of the bricks, dying and then re-spawning, using one of his three lives. Ralph continued like normal for a while, and then once again slammed both of his fists down at the floor. Like previous, only one space of window sill was safe to stand in. Apparently, the player was catching on to the new pattern, because as soon as she heard Ralph's roaring, she started directing Felix to the safe spot that appeared, but the bricks reached him before she could do it, unfortunately. Lucy and Don shared worried glances as Gene whispered down to the re-spawned Felix, who was down on his last life. -''What is he doing, Felix? Now he's really not following the program!'' He exclaimed, and Felix found that he actually had quite a hard time replying when he was robotically moved around to fix the damage Ralph had caused. -''Don't ask me! I don't know what he is up to!'' Felix seized the opportunity to answer as he passed underneath Gene's window. But whatever it is, I don't know if it's such a good idea! There wasn't really anything they could do; there weren't any smashed parts of the building near where Ralph was situated, and despite so, Felix was doubtful that he could even talk loud enough for Ralph to hear without spooking the player. They certainly were between a rock and a hard place. Then, for the third time, Ralph's double fist slam came down, but the player managed to position Felix in the safe zone, continuing to fix the last of the damage for that level. Then, the cutscene for Felix winning started, with him receiving his medal and Ralph getting tossed off the building. He was still pissed, and he grumbled indignant words as he positioned himself for the next level, taking his spot on the right side of the building. However, the player looked like she had had enough of this game for a while, because she stepped aside as a boy approached the game. However, she had said something to the boy that made the inhabitants of the game feel quite shocked. -''Hey, watch out when you get to the later levels.'' She said in a pedantic tone of voice to the younger boy. The wrecking guy's got some new moves that might catch you off guard. Leaving the boy in confusion, the game restarted itself as the current player began a new game. This player was also quite good, but now that Ralph had snapped already and already was angry enough, the double fist slam came down every so often, starting even at level one. Apparently, the boy had better reflexes than the game's previous player, because he managed to reach the safe spots in swift time, only getting hit once. -''Cool…'' The boy murmured to himself in what seemed to be awe. It must be a new difficulty level or something… He said to himself as he continued playing the levels, inevitably dying after a while. Apparently, he had told some friends of his about the game's new feature, because only a few minutes later, a seemingly endless stream of players had started coming to play Fix-It Felix Jr. During the following intermission, Felix approached the downed wrecker, who looked like he had now calmed down significantly. -''Jiminy Jaminy, brother!'' He exclaimed as Ralph pushed himself up on his feet, brushing off all the excessive mud for what felt like the hundredth time that day. What was that all about? Ralph remained silent for a few seconds, looking indignant, before replying, in a sullen voice, I dunno… I guess I just snapped… Felix thought on something for a while, and then came up with an idea. -''Hey, how about you keep doing it, Ralph? I think the gamers seem to like it.'' He said enthusiastically as Ralph towered to his full, nine feet tall posture. Ralph rubbed an area of his back slightly as he thought up a reply to Felix's suggestion. -''You think so?'' He asked dubiously, still feeling ashamed of his sudden burst of anger. Is that such a good idea? Felix vigorously nodded his head and smiled. -''Yeah, I think so!'' He said happily. How did you come up with that anyway? Ralph looked down at his own huge hands, as if they were tools he hadn't quite learned to use yet. He was silent for a while, before coming to a conclusion. -"I don't think I can answer, that, really... I'm not sure at all." Ralph said sheepishly as he folded his large hands together, stretching slightly as he did. -"Well, whatever it was, I think you should keep doing it, because it seems to me to have attracted the attention of a lot of players! Look!" Felix pointed discreetly at the window to the outside world, the real world, where they could see a huge group of kids ganging up, waiting patiently to play the very old, very retro game with the very new feature. -"Wow..." Ralph exclaimed as he stared out the window. "Has our game ever had this many players in one day?" He asked in a shocked tone of voice, and Felix looked happy. Ralph stared out that window to the real world in astonishment; genuinely shocked to see so many players queuing up for their game at one time. He absently put a hand on Felix's shoulder and smiled to himself. However, the moment was short-lived as the next player prepared to start the game, and, just like the unintentional previous times caused by anger, Ralph executed his special move every once in a while, and some of the times, the player managed to avoid it, and some of the times, they couldn't quite avoid it. Nevertheless, almost every single gamer exclaimed, with traces of awe in their voices, words like "Awesome", "That is so cool" and "Oh man, why didn't I play this game more before?" Every single time they heard words of this nature be spoken, they would have delighted smiles on their faces, although Ralph was still looking angry, he was still smiling brightly on the inside, which everyone else could feel… The day after, Ralph were resting in his little shack, genuinely exhausted after yet another day of positively exhausting work, seeing as his game was played possibly more than three times as normal. In general, every five minutes, from opening to closing, a player was playing the game. Though tiring for all the characters, they still greatly enjoyed it, seeing as it was a sign that they were appreciated by all the kids. Ralph was making himself comfortable in a large chair, watching the sky through a sky-light Felix had installed for him not too long. He was feeling his eyes becoming increasingly heavy, and he repeatedly blinked them to try and sober himself of from the depths of sleep that was rapidly claiming him. That's when he heard the knock at the door. Muttering quietly in distortion, Ralph struggled to get out of the chair as muscles in his arms and legs both were drained of energy. Despite this, he was able to eventually muster the strength needed to get up. Using his large fists, he pushed himself up to a standing position as he shuffled over to the front door of the small shack. Grumbling a few choice words of slight irritation, he gently closed his fingers around the handle of the door, twisting it as the door slowly creaked open. Remembering the bad things with bad manners, he managed to restrain himself from screaming loudly in whoever it was' face. However, he was in for a surprise. -''Hello, how can I- GENE?'' He exclaimed in both shock and also a somewhat hidden trace of anger he couldn't quite place, he stared down at the major of Niceland incredulously. Gene looked like he had rather jumped into a pit of piranhas than doing this, but still like he had forced himself to do it. Or, rather, that someone else had done so. -''What are you doin' here?'' He asked the short eight-bit, who shuffled awkwardly on the spot, but wasn't late to reply. -''Trust me, I enjoy being here even less you do having me here.'' Gene said flatly as he didn't flinch one inch. Ralph just blinked, completely silent, as Gene continued his most likely prepared speech. Felix and the others wouldn't stop eating my head up about me going to apologize for my behaviour yesterday, so, hrm… Gene seemed like he couldn't quite bring himself to say what he was supposed to say, and Ralph simply cocked his head in a mix between dubiousness and curiosity. Gene looked quite a bit flushed, and Ralph could tell he wasn't having the easiest of times. -''So, I guess… Hrm… I'm… Sorry…'' Gene said, and it was barely even audibly, but since Ralph didn't really feel like fighting this one, he simply waved the short man off with a short "Yeah, whatever" as he slowly shut the door. Gene puffed himself up slightly, but too decided not to pick this fight, and left indignantly. Ralph simply went back to his chair, and after a few minutes, he decided that he couldn't take it anymore and fell sound asleep. -''And that's more or less how it all happened.'' Ralph finished explaining to an eager Vanellope, perched on his shoulder, as they approached the Candy Palace. She hadn't interrupted once, and that was pretty unusual for the small, candied girl, so it was probably a good sign that she actually enjoyed listening to this one. -''Wow!'' The young girl exclaimed as Ralph was finally done. She could admit that Ralph was pretty good at recapping events, and she found herself actually imagining many of the scenes he told her in her head. I could never have thought that the stump would actually get some backbone and come out and apologize! Vanellope hadn't had much interaction with Gene at all, but she felt it was enough for her to understand as much as he was one of those who felt like they were of an "upper class" and constantly looking down his nose at people. A snob, shortly. -''And to think everyone said that you had temper problems!'' Vanellope said, giggling. This time, I guess it wasn't so bad. Ralph couldn't do much but agree, and they had just reached the Palace gates, where Ralph would bid his farewell of the child and go back to his own game. -''Hey, thank you for telling me, Ralphy!'' Vanellope said excitedly as the two shared one last hug before Ralph was going back to Fix-It Felix Jr. Then, he set her down, and gently patted her hair. -''Don't worry about it. I think I can almost always have something to share with ya.'' Ralph replied, and the two then finally parted, Sour Bill greeting the President as Ralph made his way to the exit of the game, feeling happier than he had for a long time.